The Commentariat -- June 12, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "House Democrats rebuffed a dramatic personal appeal from President Obama on Friday, torpedoing his ambitious push to expand his trade negotiating power — and, quite likely, his chance to secure a legacy-defining trade accord spanning the Pacific Ocean. In a remarkable rejection of a president they have resolutely backed, House Democrats voted to kill assistance to workers displaced by global trade, a program their party created and has stood by for four decades. By doing so, they brought down legislation granting the president trade promotion authority — the power to negotiate trade deals that cannot be amended or filibustered by Congress — before it could even come to a final vote.” ...

... David Nakamura & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: “The House voted 302 to 126 to sink a measure to grant financial aid to displaced workers, fracturing hopes at the White House that Congress would grant Obama fast-track trade authority to complete an accord with 11 other Pacific Rim nations. 'I will be voting to slow down fast-track,' House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on the floor moments before the vote, after keeping her intentions private for months. 'Today we have an opportunity to slow down. Whatever the deal is with other countries, we want a better deal for American workers.'... Fast-track authority ... was later approved with overwhelming Republican support in what amounted to a symbolic vote because it could not move forward into law without the related worker assistance package.”

Brian Fung of the Washington Post: "As of Friday morning, the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules became the law of the land when a federal court rebuffed a plea by Internet providers to block the regulation."

*****

David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Obama’s campaign for congressional approval to complete a sweeping Pacific Rim free trade accord comes to a head Friday, capping a months-long lobbying blitz and setting up one of the biggest tests of his presidency. The House has scheduled a vote on fast-track trade legislation..., which Obama has called central to his economic agenda at home and his foreign policy strategy in Asia. In a sign of how high the stakes are, House Democrats called an emergency caucus meeting for 9:30 a.m. Friday.... Obama will attend the meeting to make a last ditch attempt to save his trade agenda." ...

... William Finnegan of the New Yorker can't figure out President Obama's motives.

David Jones & Nicholas Bagley, in a Washington Post op-ed: "... the states are almost completely underprepared for the Supreme Court’s decision in King.... Republicans, who control at least one house in the legislature in all but three of the 34 states that use the federal exchange, told us that while they fear being blamed if people lose insurance, they also worry about the political repercussions of supporting any element of Obamacare, including the creation of a state exchange…. The states aren’t prepared for King, and any debates over whether to create state exchanges will be turbulent and difficult.

Washington Post Editors: "IF A federal appeals court ruling issued Tuesday stands, states will be able to all but deny access to abortion on a phony pretext of concern for women’s health. The impact on poor women will be particularly severe. The Supreme Court cannot allow this to be the last word on a constitutional guarantee.

The problem is not that I don't understand the global banking system. The problem for these guys is that I fully understand the system and I understand how they make their money. And that's what they don't like about me. -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Jamie Dimon's 'mansplaining' banking to her

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "The United States is considering establishing additional military bases in Iraq to combat the Islamic State, the top American general said on Thursday, a move that would require at least hundreds more American military advisers to help Iraqi forces retake cities lost to the militant Sunni extremist group. President Obama’s decision this week to send 450 trainers to establish a new military base to help Iraqi forces retake the city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, could signal the beginning of similar efforts in other parts of the country, said Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michael Isikoff the Yahoo News: "A watchdog group today asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the National Rifle Association for failing to disclose $33.5 million in political expenditures on its tax returns over a six-year period. In a letter to the IRS and a separate one to the Federal Election Commission, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) cited a recent story in Yahoo News as evidence of what it believes are multiple violations of campaign finance and tax laws by the country’s premier gun-rights group." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Frank Rich: "Writing about the [Mark Foley] case in Vanity Fair in 2007, Gail Sheehy quoted a source who accused [then-Speaker Dennis] Hastert of having 'attempted a cover-up' of his dereliction of duty in the Foley case — a cover-up that involved coordination with John Boehner (then the majority leader), Roy Blunt (then majority whip, now a senator), and Thomas Reynolds (a New York congressman who also slinked away into retirement in the scandal’s aftermath). If the church and Penn State could finally clean house, surely the House of Representatives must do the same.' Also, too. Rich enters the rotating First Lady game: "... given that he’s proposed only one woman for this role, his sister, maybe he means 'rotating' like on a rotisserie." ...

... The only victim here is Denny Hastert. -- Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., on the Hastert indictment

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Charles Pierce gives an excellent account of one reason I almost never link to any post by Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post.

Annals of Fake Journalism. Emily Steel & Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times: "Rupert Murdoch, the 84-year-old chief executive of 21st Century Fox, is planning to hand over the reins of the media conglomerate to his son James, two people briefed on the plans said Thursday. The elder Mr. Murdoch will remain at the company as executive chairman, and his son Lachlan is moving from Australia to Los Angeles to become co-executive chairman, the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. The exact timing for the changes is unclear...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Annals of Fake Economics. Jonathan Chait: "For Niall Ferguson, the commission of error is ... a cherished way of life. Ferguson’s distinct contribution to the contemporary political debate is the fascinating juxtaposition of his prestige — author, Harvard professor, resident faculty member of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, omnipresent talking head, and all-around handsome authority figure — with an inability to get his facts straight.... Apparently aware that his habits require a broader defense than 'whoops,' his latest Spectator column assails his many fact-checkers for their literalness, and gestures toward a novel theory of truth." Thanks to Haley Simon for the link.

Presidential Race

Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "... the [Bernie] Sanders campaign has hired Blair Lawton, who served as field director in Iowa for the Run Warren Run effort, which announced it was shutting down last week." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ken Thomas of the AP: "Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called on Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday to say exactly where she stands on President Barack Obama's trade agenda now that Congress is considering it." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Hillary Rodham Clinton, at a major outdoor rally planned for Saturday, will directly address concerns that have emerged in the early weeks of her candidacy, telling voters they can trust her to fight for the middle class and stressing that she cares about their problems, several people briefed on her plans say. The speech, at an event shaping up to be the most ambitious public gathering undertaken by the campaign..., will be shaped by symbolism as she seeks to make the case for why she should be president. It will be held in New York City on an island named for Franklin D. Roosevelt, in the shadow of diverse middle-class neighborhoods, as Mrs. Clinton tries to evoke the legacy of the New Deal...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Josh Marshall of TPM Explains College Stuff to a Prominent Dropout: "As he readies to run for president and grabs whatever low hanging fruit on the conservative agenda tree he can find, Scott Walker is now planning to strip tenure from professors in the University of Wisconsin higher education system.... The crown jewel of the Wisconsin university system is the University of Wisconsin at Madison. It is one of the top research universities in the country and the world. With this move, you will basically kiss that jewel goodbye. To me this is the more salient reality than whether you think academic tenure is a good thing or not in itself. If this happens, over time, the professors who can will leave. And as the top flight scholars and researchers depart, so will the reputation of the institution. So will graduate students who want to study with them, the best undergrads, money that flows to prestigious scholarship."

Charles Pierce: Ben Carson brings East Germany to Iowa. And the crowd loves it.

Bonita sends along this video of Rick Perry's Greatest Hits:

... CW: I'd add this one:

Charles Pierce: "... the Republican primary process already is spinning out of control. A television network and a local newspaper are calling the shots. And where, you might ask, is the stern, guiding hand of obvious anagram Reince Priebus, the emptiest suit in American politics? He's ducking behind a spokesman is where he is.... So I have a modest proposal before everything gets completely out of hand and we find Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson pitching blenders against each other on QVC. Why is it necessary at this point to have a formal Republican party structure at all?... This is now the second consecutive election cycle in which the Republican primary field is essentially made up of independent bodies orbiting their own private suns."

Jaime Fuller of New York: "Mitt Romney is hosting his third annual retreat in Utah, and 2016 candidates are rushing to the Deer Valley Ski Resort today like it's a Pizza Ranch in Iowa. Romney, who is not running, appears to have used his free time to plan an election-themed version of the Romney Olympics, a family sporting tournament involving events like 'Who Can Hammer the Most Nails into a Board in Two Minutes?' in the state where he planned an actual Olympics." ...

... Yo, Mitt, here's a fun sport for your Political Olympics shebang: "Arm-Wrestling for the Top Job." Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says supporters have suggested to him that he should team up with Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) on a GOP presidential ticket.... Asked by Bloomberg’s Mark Halperin if he would be open to announcing in December that the two of them would run as a ticket, and settle who would be the nominee for president and vice president later, Walker replied that some supporters had pitched that idea.... He added that he and Rubio have joked that people mention the two possibly pairing up and said they would likely 'have to arm wrestle over who would be top of the ticket.'" CW: I'd pick Halperin as the ref.

Beyond the Beltway

Richard Oppel of the New York Times: "A month and a half after six officers were charged in [Freddie] Gray’s death, policing has dwindled in some of Baltimore’s most dangerous neighborhoods, and murders have risen to levels not seen in four decades.... At the time of her announcement, [state's attorney Marilyn] Mosby’s charges were seen as calming the city. But they enraged the police rank and file, who pulled back. The number of arrests plunged, and the murder rate doubled.... The speed and severity of the police pullback here appear unlike anything that has happened in other major cities."

Richard Perez-Pena & Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "A judge in Cleveland ruled Thursday that probable cause existed to charge two Cleveland police officers in the death of a 12-year-old boy, Tamir Rice, but the judge also said he did not have the power to order arrests without a complaint being filed by a prosecutor. In his ruling, Judge Ronald B. Adrine, presiding judge of the Municipal Court, found probable cause to charge Officer Timothy Loehmann, who fired the fatal shot, with murder, involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide and dereliction of duty. He also found probable cause to charge Officer Loehmann’s partner, Officer Frank Garmback, with negligent homicide and dereliction of duty."

Respect for Life. Griff Witte of the Washington Post: "... in a country where the vast majority of police officers patrol with batons and pepper spray, the elite cadre of British cops who are entrusted with guns almost never use them. Police in Britain have fatally shot two people in the past three years.... That’s less than the average number of people shot and killed by police every day in the United States over the first five months of 2015, according to a Washington Post analysis.... Of course, British and U.S. police are patrolling different societies. The United States has some of the world’s loosest gun laws and some of the highest rates of gun ownership. Britain is the opposite, with handguns and assault rifles effectively banned."

Craig Jarvin & Colin Campbell of the Raleigh News & Observer: "In a matter of minutes, the state House on Thursday morning overrode the governor’s veto of the same-sex marriage bill that allows magistrates to decline to perform marriages. The Senate overrode the veto earlier this month, and now it is law. As a result, magistrates and employees of registers of deeds can opt out of performing marriage duties if they cite a religious objection. County offices in North Carolina must have established hours for performing weddings, as well." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Spokane, Washington, Spokesman-Review: "Controversy is swirling around one of the Inland Northwest’s most prominent civil rights activists, with family members of Rachel Dolezal saying the local leader of the NAACP has been falsely portraying herself as black for years. Dolezal, 37, avoided answering questions directly about her race and ethnicity Thursday, saying, 'I feel like I owe my executive committee a conversation' before engaging in a broader discussion with the community about what she described as a 'multi-layered' issue."

Way Beyond

Angelique Chrisafis of the Guardian: "Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, has been cleared by a French court of 'aggravated pimping' charges. The one-time French presidential hopeful, who has described seeking 'recreation' from the stress of world politics by having rough sex with strangers at orgies in Europe> and the US, was found not to have promoted or profited from the prostitution of seven women."

Paul Krugman: "... the ultimate example of a seriously bad idea is the determination, in the teeth of all the evidence, to declare government spending that helps the less fortunate a crucial cause of our economic problems. In the United States, I’m happy to say, this idea seems to be on the ropes, at least for now. Here in Britain, however, it still reigns supreme. In particular, one important factor in the recent Conservative election triumph was the way Britain’s news media told voters, again and again, that excessive government spending under Labour caused the financial crisis. It takes almost no homework to show that this claim is absurd on multiple levels."

News Ledes

New York Times: "A prison worker who befriended two killers before they escaped from a maximum-security prison in upstate New York was arrested on Friday for providing them with 'material assistance,' the authorities said. The worker, Joyce Mitchell, 51, of Dickinson Center, N.Y., was charged with promoting prison contraband in the first degree, a felony, and criminal facilitation in the fourth degree, a misdemeanor."

Los Angeles Times: Jack Warner, "the former FIFA vice president, who was among 14 people indicted as part of the U.S. Justice Department's investigation into bribery and corruption within the world soccer organization, said Wednesday he planned to fight his extradition to the United States from Trinidad and Tobago at a hearing July 9."

The Commentariat -- June 11, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "The United States is considering establishing additional military bases in Iraq to combat the Islamic State, the top American general said on Thursday, a move that would require at least hundreds more American military advisers to help Iraqi forces retake cities lost to the militant Sunni extremist group. President Obama's decision this week to send 450 trainers to establish a new military base to help Iraqi forces retake the city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, could signal the beginning of similar efforts in other parts of the country, said Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."

Emily Steel & Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times: "Rupert Murdoch, the 84-year-old chief executive of 21st Century Fox, is planning to hand over the reins of the media conglomerate to his son James, two people briefed on the plans said Thursday. The elder Mr. Murdoch will remain at the company as executive chairman, and his son Lachlan is moving from Australia to Los Angeles to become co-executive chairman, the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. The exact timing for the changes is unclear...."

Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "... the [Bernie] Sanders campaign has hired Blair Lawton, who served as field director in Iowa for the Run Warren Run effort, which announced it was shutting down last week." ...

... Ken Thomas of the AP: "Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called on Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday to say exactly where she stands on President Barack Obama's trade agenda now that Congress is considering it." ...

... Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Hillary Rodham Clinton, at a major outdoor rally planned for Saturday, will directly address concerns that have emerged in the early weeks of her candidacy, telling voters they can trust her to fight for the middle class and stressing that she cares about their problems, several people briefed on her plans say. The speech, at an event shaping up to be the most ambitious public gathering undertaken by the campaign..., will be shaped by symbolism as she seeks to make the case for why she should be president. It will be held in New York City on an island named for Franklin D. Roosevelt, in the shadow of diverse middle-class neighborhoods, as Mrs. Clinton tries to evoke the legacy of the New Deal...."

Michael Isikoff the Yahoo News: "A watchdog group today asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the National Rifle Association for failing to disclose $33.5 million in political expenditures on its tax returns over a six-year period. In a letter to the IRS and a separate one to the Federal Election Commission, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) cited a recent story in Yahoo News as evidence of what it believes are multiple violations of campaign finance and tax laws by the country's premier gun-rights group."

Craig Jarvin & Colin Campbell of the Raleigh News & Observer: "In a matter of minutes, the state House on Thursday morning overrode the governor' veto of the same-sex marriage bill that allows magistrates to decline to perform marriages. The Senate overrode the veto earlier this month, and now it is law. As a result, magistrates and employees of registers of deeds can opt out of performing marriage duties if they cite a religious objection. County offices in North Carolina must have established hours for performing weddings, as well."

*****

Jad Mouawad & Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Obama administration on Wednesday said it would regulate greenhouse gas emissions from airplanes, a move that could significantly strengthen President Obama's environmental legacy but that also presents major new challenges for the airline industry. The Environmental Protection Agency found that emissions from airplanes endanger human health because of their contribution to global warming. That finding does not yet impose specific new requirements on airlines, but instead requires the agency to develop the new rules, as it has done for motor vehicles and power plants." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

What a Mess. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "With a final House showdown coming on Friday on President Obama's push for accelerated power to pursue a sweeping trade agreement, the vote brokering has begun -- and it is all tilting to the right.... The legislative changes clearly show the fate of the president's expanded trade-negotiating power rests with Republicans, not Democrats, even more so because Republicans have blocked provisions favored by pro-trade Democrats."

Burgess Everett of Politico: "As Senate Democrats stiffen their resolve to block Republican spending bills, Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) put it plainly on Wednesday morning: 'We're headed for another shutdown.' 'They did it once, they're going to do it again,' Reid said of Republicans. 'They want to wait until the fiscal year ends and then close up government.'"

Steven Overly of the Washington Post: "A House appropriations bill unveiled Wednesday would prevent the Federal Communications Commission from using government funds to implement net neutrality regulations until after a series of legal disputes are settled. That could delay the controversial policy, which allows the agency to regulate the Internet like a public utility, for an untold number of years. For net neutrality enthusiasts, that essentially spells a death sentence." ...

... Tim Stark of the New Republic: "House Republicans' safety plan for Amtrak: videotape the next derailment rather than prevent it.... As industry experts note, U.S. rail has one of the worst safety records in the world because of how little it spends on its rail networks. When a reporter asked House Speaker John Boehner about Democratic protests over Amtrak funding cuts, he called it a 'stupid question.'"

Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) clashed with President Obama's healthcare chief [Sylvia Burwell] at a hearing Wednesday over preparations for a looming Supreme Court decision on ObamaCare.... The hearing was supposed to be about the HHS budget, but Ryan nixed that topic, citing Obama's speech on Tuesday strongly defending ObamaCare.... Ryan said, 'Whatever the Supreme Court decides later this month, I think the lesson is absolutely clear: ObamaCare is flat busted.' The top Democrat, Rep. Sandy Levin (Mich.), hit back at Ryan. 'What's busted is not the ACA, but your attacks,' he said. 'Endless attacks, never coming up with a single comprehensive alternative all these years, so you are armchair critics while millions have insurance who never had it before.... It's your allies who brought the suit that will deprive them of insurance,' Levin said." ...

... Tough Love. Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times: "An adverse court ruling could strip an estimated 6.5 million people of subsidies worth some $21 billion a year, forcing many of them to give up insurance they acquired thanks to Obamacare. [Paul] Ryan seemed to think that would be a good thing, or at least that providing subsidies so people can have coverage is a bad thing. The federal government, he said, 'has sent millions of subsidies out the door, putting millions of people at risk.' Interesting outlook: He's saying that helping people puts them at risk, and a lawsuit backed by the Republican establishment that would strip away that assistance will be good for them." ...

... Dana Milbank: "Five years after the [Affordable Care Act]'s passage, the nation has moved on -- only 1 in 20 Americans thinks health care is the top problem facing the country, a fifth of the number during the Obamacare debate -- but lawmakers have hardly changed their talking points at all." The House Ways & Means Committee held a hearing Wednesday, & things did not go well. Milbank reiterates some of the back-and-forth. It wasn't pretty. ...

... Joan McCarter of Daily Kos: "It all boils down to the only thing congressional Republicans have been able to agree on as a strategy to respond to a bad outcome in King: Blame Obama." Not so fast, Joan ...

... They Have a Secret Plan! Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg: "Congressional Republican leaders say they have a fallback plan ready to go if the Supreme Court cripples a core component of Obamacare this month. But the details of the plan are being kept secret. 'We'll have a plan that makes sense for the American people," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday in a radio interview with The Joe Elliott Show." CW: It's so secret none of the leaders know what it is, but Mitch sure wants to assure the Supreme confederates they're free to gut ObamaCare on the flimsiest of excuses. ...

... Marie's Doom-&-Gloom Prediction: Pundits generally agree on the obvious: that President Obama's speech this week on the ACA was intended to influence the Supreme Court. As I've written elsewhere, I believe Obama knew the gist of the Supremes' 2012 ACA decision before the Court announced it. So if the President is still the recipient of courthouse leaks, the latest leak may have compelled him to speak forcefully in the ACA's defense. If these suppositions are correct, they mostly likely mean that the Supremes' decision is or may be in flux, & it's not looking good. Since Chief Justice Roberts has a history of moving the laws rightward incrementally, I'm thinking that this time around he's moving the ACA right -- into the dustbin of history. I fervently hope everybody gets to mock me for being so wrong. ...

... Blame Obama! Paul Waldman fears that Americans may be gullible & ignorant enough to buy the GOP's argument that President Obama is at fault for cancelling the health insurance subsidies. "All that many people will know is that people are losing their insurance, and it has something to do with ObamaCare."

Gail Collins: "It's been a dismal stretch for a woman's right to choose."

Family Values. E. J. Dionne: "I will be haunted for a long time by Saturday's funeral for Beau Biden.... Beau Biden's sister, Ashley, and his brother, Hunter, spoke with a power and an authenticity about love, devotion and connection that said more about how irreplaceable family solidarity is than a thousand speeches or sermons.... So many of the issues related to family are more complicated (and less about ideology) than the angry, direct-mail style of discourse we are accustomed to on these matters would suggest."

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "... papers from [Dennis] Hastert's congressional years suggest that there was more than a touch of hypocrisy in Hastert's long record as a staunch social conservative."

David Sanger & Julie Davis of the New York Times: "Investigators say that the Chinese hackers who attacked the databases of the Office of Personnel Management may have obtained the names of Chinese relatives, friends and frequent associates of American diplomats and other government officials, information that Beijing could use for blackmail or retaliation. Federal employees who handle national security information are required to list some or all of their foreign contacts.... Investigators say that the hackers obtained many of the lists, and they are trying to determine how many of those thousands of names were compromised."

Andrew Higgins of the New York Times: "Russia has been conducting nearly nonstop naval exercises in the Baltic Sea -- including on 26 of 30 days in April, according to Lithuanian officials -- and it is regularly probing Baltic airspace with its warplanes. They keep up constant pressure just to show they have influence,' [Lithuania's energy minister, Rokas] Masiulis said. 'It is all part of the general atmosphere of provocation and rising tensions in the region.'"

Paul Richter of the Los Angeles Times: "Secretary of State John F. Kerry will travel to Europe this month for the final days of nuclear negotiations with Iran although he is still hospitalized 11 days after he broke his leg in a biking accident, a senior administration official said Wednesday."

Anna Yukhananov of Reuters: "The World Bank on Wednesday cut its global growth outlook for this year and urged countries to 'fasten their seat belts' as they adjust to lower commodity prices and a looming rise in U.S. interest rates. Kaushik Basu, the World Bank's chief economist, said the Federal Reserve should hold off on a rate hike until next year to avoid worsening exchange rate volatility and crimping global growth."

Kip Chipman of Bloomberg: "JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon took aim at U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a critic of large banks, as he expressed broad concerns about leadership in Washington. 'I don't know if she fully understands the global banking system,' Dimon, speaking Wednesday at an event in Chicago, said of [Warren].... Still, he said he agrees with some of her concerns about risks." CW: Of course she doesn't understand global banking, Jamie. She's just a girl. And girls' brains aren't wired for manly stuff like high finance. But you know, we often know a creep when we meet one.

Paul Krugman takes account of what he got right & what he got wrong in making predictions over the past decade. ...

... Paul Waldman: "This kind of accountability is dangerous to those of us in the pundit industry and must be stopped in its tracks."

"The Godfather of Clickbait." John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "The death of Vinnie Musetto, a former editor at the New York Post who wrote the famous headline 'HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR,' has already attracted quite a few notices, including complimentary pieces in the Times, the Guardian, and the Post itself.... An aging hippie who wore his hair long, dressed in black, and, in the later part of his career, also reviewed movies, he saw headline writing as an art form, albeit a rough-and-ready one.... In combining succinctness, irony, and absurdism, the Post's headlines fashioned a model that editors at popular Internet news sites, in their never-ending efforts to attract clicks, often seek to emulate."

AND Vladamir Putin shows up late -- again -- for his meeting with Pope Francis.

Presidential Race

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Former President Bill Clinton has made millions of dollars giving paid speeches since he left office, but he said on Wednesday that if his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, won the White House, he would no longer take money for talking. Speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative America meeting in Denver, Mr. Clinton said that continuing his paid speaking engagements would attract too much attention, but that he still planned to talk to groups about subjects that mattered to him." ...

... Jonathan Chait explains in some detail to Ron Fournier & David Brooks, et al., why Hillary Clinton's path to the White House is not "bad for America." ...

... CW: We should all get over this idea that any president -- by dint of her or his election -- has a "mandate" to force his policy prescriptions on the country. The only "mandate" is bringing along a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate & majorities in the House & on the Supreme Court. We have three branches of government for a reason, whether we like it or not, & each of the three branches is supposed to exercise its will, whether we like it or not. The concept of a presidential mandate implies a sort of imperial presidency, where the other branches kowtow to the preferences of a person who collected more Electoral College votes than his opponent(s). Yes, they should find ways to reach comity on important matters of state (which is something John Roberts did in upholding the ACA, for instance), but when a president's opposition meets on his Inauguration Day to plot his undoing, his popular mandate is kaput unless he has the necessary votes in Congress & the support of the Supreme Court. The vaunted Founders created a system not so much of checks-and-balances, but of competing interests clashing. It may be a lousy system, but it's the one we'll have in the foreseeable future.

Brendan James of TPM: "After an interview in which she incorrectly stated the presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was a dual-Israeli-US citizen, NPR's Diane Rehm told TPM she made 'a mistake' and got the information from Facebook." CW: I guess Rehm missed my post yesterday in which I noted that "Facebook is not a news source." Probably shouldn't have to explain that to journalists. ...

... Our pal Dylan Byers has a transcript of the full exchange between Rehm & Sanders. Rehm wrote to Politico that she had obtained a list of U.S politicians with dual U.S.-Israel citizenship not from Facebook but from "a Facebook comment." Good grief! Contribute to NPR! They need your help.

Ed O'Keefe & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: Jeb Bush's campaign began to founder almost from the get-go. "Older Bush hands also grew unhappy with rapid hiring by new advisers, and relationships frayed, according to Bush associates. And as the former Florida governor began to founder on the trail and in the polls, the discussions flared into arguments about how to divvy up money and resources between Bush's allied super PAC and his official campaign.... [There were numerous signs] of a political operation going off course -- disjointed in message and approach, torn between factions and more haphazard than it appeared on the surface. Bush's first six months as an all-but-declared candidate have been defined by a series of miscalculations, leaving his standing considerably diminished ahead of his formal entry into the race on Monday." ...

... Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: Jeb Bush thinks shame is a good way to control society's ills. In a book he co-authored in 1994, Bush wrote, "'Society needs to relearn the art of public and private disapproval and how to make those who engage in undesirable behavior feel some sense of shame.'... Scarlet A's for all sluts, please. In fact, after Bush won the governorship, Florida's legislature passed a measure nicknamed the 'Scarlet Letter' law because it required single women to publish information on their past sexual partners in a newspaper before they could put children up for adoption. The law was repealed after being struck down as unconstitutional. Bush also pines for the days of 'pillories and public dunkings,' and regrets that 'much of today's criminal justice system seems to be lacking in humiliation.'... Perhaps most astonishingly, Bush advocates using corporal punishment in public schools.... Even if Bush no longer directly embraces, say, corporal punishment, his underlying philosophy is clear, and it's consistent with attitudes we've seen among conservatives now in power in places such as Kansas and Wisconsin: that the main reason people are broke, unmarried, in prison or unemployed is because it's all just too much gosh-darn fun." CW: Wonder if he thought his wife & daughter wouldn't be such criminals if they were subjected to more shaming. ...

... Joshua Keating of Slate: "Jeb Bush would do basically what Obama's doing on Russia but more 'resolutely.'... In his speech [in Germany], Bush pivoted from calling for the U.S. to act 'more robustly' to praising Merkel for her 'efforts to be clear about sanctions as it relates to Russia.' But the hawkish actor in this situation has been Obama not Merkel."

Colin Campbell of Business Insider: "Presidential candidate and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) had an uncomfortable interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday night. Hannity, who concluded by declaring he is "like Winston Churchill," spent most of the eight-minute exchange attacking Graham. Specifically, Hannity took issue with Graham's claim that he and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow contribute to political polarization in the US. Graham made the comments last week to NBC anchor Chuck Todd.... The two repeatedly attempted to talk over one another throughout the interview." ...

... CW: Yo, Sean, Winnie was a jerk, too, in ways that for some reason remind me of you.

Lapdogs v. Watchdogs. Charles Pierce: Scott Walker & his legislative lapdogs propose to dispose of Wisconsin's independent watchdogs, because (a) they're independent, & (b) they keep catching onto Scotty's direputable, wasteful, occasionally illegal shenanigans. ...

... Colin Campbell: Scott Walker still abusing young teacher.

Rebecca Leber of the New Republic: Rand Paul: Yo, Balto, racism isn't the problem here; it's Democrats taxing small businesses. CW: Yeah, that's what I thought.

Jane Timm of MSNBC: "Republican presidential contender Ben Carson said Wednesday that if elected next year he might implement a 'covert division' of government workers who spy on their coworkers to improve government efficiency."

Tim Alberta of the National Journal: "Fox News has changed its plan for the first Republican presidential debate to give second-tier candidates some airtime after a New Hampshire newspaper announced its own competing forum for B-list contenders. According to plans announced late Wednesday, Fox now will host a 90-minute televised forum in Cleveland on the afternoon of August 6 for​ ​Republican candidates who fail to qualify for that ​evening's 90-minute debate." CW: Must-See TV for sure.

Senate Races

Arelis Hernandez of the Washington Post: "Rep.  Donna F. Edwards (D-Md.) has won support from the Washington area Teamsters for her Maryland Senate campaign, two months after her primary rival U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) scored the first union endorsement in the contest."

Michelle Rindels of the AP: "Brian Sandoval, who gave up a lifetime appointment as a federal judge to run for Nevada governor, said Tuesday he liked the job so much that he was turning his back on a U.S. Senate bid that he would've been highly favored to win. Sandoval's decision to forgo a run for the seat held by retiring Democrat Sen. Harry Reid brings the search for the Republican nominee into sharper focus...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Jana Kasperkevic of the Guardian: "Los Angeles will officially raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020. After a third and final city council vote, workers in Los Angeles will receive incremental pay increases over the next five years that will bump their wages up from $9." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Kansas City Star Editors outline a parade of horribles inflicted on the state by the state legislature, Gov. Sam Brownback & secretary of state Kris Kobach." Thanks to safari for the link.

Ed Kilgore: "In the latest and most open demonstration that some law enforcement officers are prone to go on strike if their tactics are challenged, two unnamed Baltimore cops blandly told CNN that citizens of the city had to choose between safety from criminals and safety from the police, per a offered an apology Wednesday through his lawyer, who tried to explain the officer's actions by saying that he was under stress after responding to two earlier calls involving a suicide and a suicide attempt." ...

... Christina Veiga of the Miami Herald: Alberto Iber, "the principal of North Miami Senior High School, inadvertently injected himself into the racially charged national debate over police treatment of blacks with a social media comment — and it wound up costing him his position at the school.... Iber -- in a brief public post on a story on the Miami Herald&'s website -- ... [wrote,] 'He did nothing wrong,' Iber wrote in a comment that showed his Facebook picture, name, school and title. 'He was afraid for his life. I commend him for his actions.'... The student body at his school also is 99 percent minority, according to state records."

Way Beyond

Ewen MacKaskill of the Guardian: "UK intelligence agencies should be allowed to retain controversial intrusive powers to gather bulk communications data but ministers should be stripped of their powers to authorise surveillance warrants. That is the conclusion of a major report on British data laws published on Thursday that proposes changes to the oversight of GCHQ and other intelligence agencies. The 373-page report, A Question of Trust, by David Anderson QC, also comes in response to revelations by the US whistleblower Edward Snowden about the scale of government surveillance disclosed two years ago.... The report by the official reviewer of counter-terrorism laws, was commissioned by [Prime Minister] David Cameron in July last year." CW: So sort of like kids telling itself to do what they want to do.

Ben Quinn of the Guardian: Tim Hunt, "a Nobel laureate who said that scientists should work in gender-segregated labs and that the trouble with 'girls' is that they cause men to fall in love with them, has resigned from his position at University College London (UCL).... In a statement published on its website UCL said, 'UCL was the first university in England to admit women students on equal terms to men, and the university believes that this outcome is compatible with our commitment to gender equality.'"

News Ledes

New York Times: "Christopher Lee, the physically towering British movie actor who lent his distinguished good looks, Shakespearean voice and aristocratic presence to a gallery of villains, from a seductive Count Dracula to a dreaded wizard in 'The Lord of the Rings,' died on Sunday in London. He was 93."

NBC News: "The governor of Vermont [Peter Shumlin] issued a stark warning to the public on Thursday that the two killers who escaped from a maximum-security New York prison 'will do whatever it takes' to stay free.... Authorities said Wednesday they had reason to believe the escapees, Richard Matt and David Sweat, might have headed for Vermont." ...

... New York Times: "As the search for two convicted killers who escaped from prison over the weekend continued Thursday morning, a state highway was blocked and schools were closed in the area surrounding the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y." ...

... AP: "Investigators believe a prison employee had agreed to be the getaway driver in last weekend's escape by two killers, but she never showed up, a person close to the investigation told The Associated Press on Thursday. The person said that was one reason the manhunt was focused on the woods only a few miles from the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility.... ... Authorities believe Joyce Mitchell -- an instructor at the prison tailor shop, where the two convicts worked -- had befriended the men and was supposed to pick them up Saturday morning, but didn't." ...

... Ah, Love. Reuters: "A female prison worker being questioned by police, who are hunting two escapees from an upstate New York prison, thought she had a romantic relationship with one of them and had planned to drive the getaway car, NBC News reported on Thursday. In the end, Joyce Mitchell ...got cold feet and checked herself into a hospital for nerves on Saturday, the day the inmates were discovered missing, NBC reported...."

Washington Post: "A Chinese court sentenced the country's former security chief to life in prison on Thursday, marking the highest-level official to fall as part of a sweeping anti-corruption campaign. Zhou Yongkang became known as the biggest tiger' to be targeted in President Xi Jinping's effort to tackle power abuses across the country."

The Commentariat -- June 10, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Jad Mouawad & Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Obama administration on Wednesday said it would regulate greenhouse gas emissions from airplanes, a move that could significantly strengthen President Obama's environmental legacy but that also presents major new challenges for the airline industry. The Environmental Protection Agency found that emissions from airplanes endanger human health because of their contribution to global warming. That finding does not yet impose specific new requirements on airlines, but instead requires the agency to develop the new rules, as it has done for motor vehicles and power plants."

Jana Kasperkevic of the Guardian: "Los Angeles will officially raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020. After a third and final city council vote, workers in Los Angeles will receive incremental pay increases over the next five years that will bump their wages up from $9."

Michelle Rindels of the AP: "Brian Sandoval, who gave up a lifetime appointment as a federal judge to run for Nevada governor, said Tuesday he liked the job so much that he was turning his back on a U.S. Senate bid that he would've been highly favored to win. Sandoval's decision to forgo a run for the seat held by retiring Democrat Sen. Harry Reid brings the search for the Republican nominee into sharper focus...."

*****

Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "In a major shift of focus in the battle against the Islamic State, the Obama administration is planning to establish a new military base in Anbar Province and send 400 American military trainers to help Iraqi forces retake the city of Ramadi. Although a final decision by the White House has yet to be announced, the plan follows months of behind-the-scenes debate about how prominently plans to retake another Iraqi city, Mosul, which fell to the Islamic State last year, should figure in the early phase of the military campaign against the group."

Monica Davey, et al., of the New York Times: "After days of silence, J. Dennis Hastert, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he illegally structured bank withdrawals and lied to the authorities about millions of dollars he had promised to pay someone for misconduct that occurred decades ago.... He was released on a $4,500 bond and ordered to stay in the continental United States, to surrender his passport and to remove his sons' guns from his suburban home within two weeks. He was also told to avoid contact with anyone who might be a witness or an accuser in his case.... Judge [Thomas] Durkin, who had been randomly assigned to the case [and who has several personal connections to Hastert], said he would remove himself unless both sides -- the prosecution and Mr. Hastert's lawyers -- decided this week to waive objections and permit him to stay on."

Dana Milbank: "President Obama uttered more than 3,600 words on the stage of Washington's Marriott Wardman Park ballroom on Tuesday, but his message could be summed up in three: You wouldn't dare.... He was speaking ... to five men not in the room: the conservative justices of the Supreme Court. His appeal to the justices, devotees of judicial modesty all: Do they really wish to cause the massive societal upheaval that would come from killing a law that is now a routine part of American life?... It's difficult to imagine the Supreme Court justices taking away health coverage for 6 or 7 million Americans, causing costs to skyrocket for millions of others, and likely plunging the entire American healthcare system in chaos. That's not just judicial activism -- it would be a judicially induced cataclysm.... I have faith that the conservative justices, even if they detest Obamacare, have no wish to throw the country into chaos." ...

... Here's better audio, courtesy of C-SPAN, of President Obama's speech on the Affordable Care Act, delivered yesterday:

... Greg Sargent reads Mitch McConnell's tea leaves: "Republicans will argue that the post-King chaos is the fault of the law itself, and not the fault of the Court decision (which Republicans urged on) that is knocking out a key pillar of it. In this telling, the cause of all the damage will be that Obamacare held out the false promise of economic security for millions, in the form of expanded coverage, but that security was then snatched out from under all those people (thanks to Obummer's incompetence) when the Court clarified what the law actually says. All this is only the latest way in which Obamacare is hurting countless Americans. That's pretty damn slick."

Manny Fernandez & Erik Eckholm of the New York Times: "A federal appellate court upheld some of the toughest provisions of a Texas abortion law on Tuesday, putting more than a dozen of the state's remaining abortion clinics at risk of permanently shutting their doors and leaving the nation's second-most populous state with possibly seven providers. There were 41 when the law was passed. Abortion providers and women's rights groups vowed a quick appeal to the United States Supreme Court, setting the stage for what could be the most far-reaching ruling in years on when legislative restrictions pose an 'undue burden' on the constitutional right to an abortion." ...

... Tierney Sneed of TPM: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has cleared the way for most of a restrictive Texas abortion law -- that among other things requires clinics to meet hospital-like standards and providers to attain special credentials with local hospitals -- to go into effect. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, all but seven of the clinics in the state stand risk of closing." Includes copy of decision. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... MEANWHILE. Jason Stein & Andrew Hahn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Amid a lengthy and wrenching debate, the Wisconsin Senate passed a Republican-backed bill Tuesday to ban abortions after 20 weeks from fertilization. The bill is moving quickly toward becoming law but would be struck down by a federal trial court if a lawsuit against the measure is eventually brought, legal experts said. Only the U.S. Supreme Court could uphold the measure, which carries no exemptions for rape, incest or the health of the mother.... The legislation ... now heads to the Assembly.... Gov. Scott Walker ... has said he would sign the bill if it came to his desk."

Jennifer Schuessler of the New York Times: "The Library of Congress is to announce on Wednesday that Juan Felipe Herrera, a son of migrant farmworkers whose writing fuses wide-ranging experimentalism with reflections on Mexican-American identity, will be the next poet laureate. The appointment is the nation's highest honor in poetry and also something of a direct promotion for Mr. Herrera, who was poet laureate of California from 2012 to 2014." ...

... Here are a few of Herrera's poems. Dwight Garner of the New York Times highlights Herrera's special gifts.

Jake Sherman & John Bresnahan of Politico: "House leaders, confident but not yet certain they have the support to pass sweeping trade legislation, are aiming to bring the package to a floor vote by the end of this week -- even as they rush to resolve a last-minute hangup over how to pay for aid to displaced workers."

American "Justice," Ctd. Shaila DeWan of the New York Times: "Defense lawyers, scholars and even some judges say the high bail amounts set for some Baltimore protesters highlight a much broader problem with the nation's money-based bail system. They say that system routinely punishes poor defendants before they get their day in court, often keeping them incarcerated for longer than if they had been convicted right away.... Critics say the system allows defendants with money to go free even if they are dangerous, while keeping low-risk poor people in jail unnecessarily and at great cost to taxpayers.... For those who cannot afford to post bail, even a short stay in jail can quickly unravel lives and families." ...

... A Larger Lesson from McKinney. Seth Stoughton in TPM: "A short video of officers in McKinney, Texas, shows us the avoidable results of an unnecessarily aggressive approach to policing. But in the same video, we can see a few seconds of policing the way the way it should be done.... As a former police officer and current policing scholar, I know that an officer's mindset has tremendous impact on police/civilian encounters. I've described the Guardian and Warrior mindsets at some length here and here; for now, suffice to say that the right mindset can de-escalate tense situations, induce compliance, and increase community trust over the long-term." (See also Beyond the Beltway.) ...

... digby: "I think everyone got so caught up in the story of military gear appearing on the streets of America that our discussion of the militarization of police got short changed. This is the big problem that stems from militarization --- bad training and bad attitudes."

C. J. Ciaramella of BuzzFeed: "The Justice Department has issued a federal grand jury subpoena to Reason, a prominent libertarian publication, to unmask the identity of commenters who made alleged threats against a federal judge.... The subpoena raises several First Amendment issues, such as whether the comments rise to the level of a 'true threat' or are protected free speech. The Supreme Court recently ruled that 'true threats' must be made with some knowledge or intent that the threat will be taken seriously. Kimberly Chow, an attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the comments on Reason clearly fall within the internet's regular, if outrageous and often vile, discourse.... Free speech advocates also worry that such subpoenas burden websites with significant legal costs and could have a chilling effect on speech." ...

... CW: FYI, "burdening websites with significant legal costs" is one reason I delete the very infrequent comments made on Realty Chex that might be perceived as threats or inciting violence -- I can't afford them. But, go ahead, as some have done, & accuse me of having "a chilling effect on speech." ...

... Virginia Postrel of Bloomberg, who says she is one of the founders of Reason: "Venting anger about injustice is not a crime. Neither is being obnoxious on the Internet. The chances of one of these commenters being convicted of threatening the judge are essentially nil. Conviction isn't the point. Crying 'threats' just makes a handy pretext for harassing Reason and its commenters. The real threats ... [are] coming from civil servants in suits. Subpoenaing Reason's website records, wasting its staff's time and forcing it to pay legal fees in hopes of imposing even larger legal costs ... sends an intimidating message...."

Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "A rush to recruit additional Secret Service officers in the wake of numerous White House security lapses has led to a new problem: Several dozen of the fresh arrivals have been posted in sensitive positions without completing the required national security clearance process, according to two government officials familiar with the situation.... [Rep. Mark] Meadows [R-N.C.] told The Post it was 'very puzzling' that a violation of security standards was tolerated for so long and now could be resolved in a week."

David Nakamura & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "The White House daily briefing was interrupted Tuesday when reporters and staff were evacuated by the U.S. Secret Service during the televised question-and-answer session due to a bomb threat made over the telephone, authorities said."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd., "Luxury" Edition

Dylan Byers, et al., of Politico: "In an effort to showcase Sen. Marco Rubio's history of financial struggles, The New York Times reported Tuesday that the Florida Republican had spent '$80,000 for a luxury speedboat' even as he faced outstanding debts. But while Rubio did indeed spend $80,000 on a boat, the vessel in question is not the glamorous 'luxury speedboat' the Times article portrayed. It is, in fact, an offshore fishing boat.... The manufacturer, Edgewater, notes that the boat is perfect for 'safety-minded family boaters and avid anglers.' In a place like Miami, home to billionaires and stars who have multimillion-dollar yachts, an '$80,000 luxury boat' can seem like a contradiction." ...

... CW: Byers, et al., are fractionally-right to call out the Times' characterization of the boat. When I read the Times article, I pictured a Bush-family-type cigarette boat, not a clunky fishing boat. However, the Politico "reporters" then go overboard, so to speak, in emphasizing the boat's family values. As Hunter Walker of Business Insider notes, "However you might define the boat, it is clearly marketed as an impressive craft. On its website, EdgeWater describes its Deep-V Center Consoles as 'luxury boats.' The manufacturer's website describes the model owned by Rubio as an 'unsinkable' boat 'of unmistakable distinction' with 'offshore capabilities.'" ...

... CW: As I watched the video, I couldn't help think of the cost of docking, drydocking, fueling & maintaining the boat in Miami. (Do you think Marco cleans out the bilge tank? Or scrapes barnacles? I can't quite picture him even cleaning his own fish.) ...

... Charles Pierce: "Over the last couple of weeks, [Dylan Byers has] ... gone to work on behalf of The Washington Free Beacon, a Washington supermarket flyer for ratfkers run by William Kristol's otherwise unemployable son-in-law, Matthew Continetti, who once vowed that he would be engaging in 'combat journalism.'" ...

** "The Fournier Effect." Charles Pierce: Our elite journalists can't handle democracy. "I have no idea whether [Hillary Clinton] will 'tack back to the center,' or whatever the cliche du jour turns out to be in the high midsummer of 2016. But, for now, if she's making the likes of Ron Fournier and David Brooks nervous about their ongoing journalistic malpractice, that's all to the good." ...

... In one of his best -- and as usual, humorous -- takedowns ever, Driftglass eviscerates Brooks' column. Driftglass exposes, for the umpteenth (modest estimate) time Brooks' tried-&-lied shifty elisions of facts. Brooks is an expert at ignoring -- and inviting the reader to ignore -- the salient truths that would demolish his arguments.

Presidential Race

CW: In a somewhat convoluted way, perhaps because she culled her column from a panel discussion, Joan Walsh of Salon sez what I said the other day. Walsh -- and Democratic strategist & opinion researcher Stan Greenberg -- assert that Hillary Clinton does indeed champion policy goals that appeal to working class whites, especially white women. ...

... CW: Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post, friend of David Brooks & fake liberal, writes -- correctly, I think -- "Reports of Hillary Clinton's supposed lurch to the left have been greatly exaggerated.... Nothing Clinton is saying is outside the 2015 Democratic Party mainstream -- or, more to the point, is likely to hurt her in a general election.... As Clinton prepares for her big launch speech Saturday and begins to flesh out her policy specifics over the summer, the left-leaning positions she isn't taking are as significant as the ones she has endorsed." Here's where Marcus outs herself -- in perfect Village vernacular, I might add: "Folks like me will hope in vain for even a glancing mention of the national debt or entitlement reform." Brooks couldn't have said it better. And, yes, Hillary, we so want to hear some of that "belt-tightening" rhetoric.

Jeb Does Germany. Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: In Berlin, "in a speech before a business group affiliated with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party, [Jeb] Bush praised former president George H.W. Bush for having partnered a quarter-century ago with then-Chancellor Helmut Kohl in one of 'history's decisive turns.... The work was done, and because of that, Germany was whole and Germany is free.' At no point, however, did Jeb Bush mention the more recent Bush presidency -- that of his brother George W. Bush -- when relations with European allies were strained over the Iraq war and the go-it-alone approach of the 43rd president's administration." ...

... Matea Gold & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "A super PAC backing ... Jeb Bush is likely to fall short of collecting $100 million by the end of this month, despite widespread expectations that the group would hit that record-breaking sum, according to people close to the operation.... That would be a major psychological blow for Bush's operation, whose fundraising prowess has raised expectations about how much cash it has been amassing. Bush's schedule for the past five months has been dominated by high-priced fundraisers for the super PAC, helping the group stockpile tens of millions."

Nick Gass of Politico: "Unmarried Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says that if he becomes president, he will have a 'rotating first lady.'" CW: I think I'll vote for Lindsey just so I can watch a first lady rotate. As well as being an experienced first lady, Michelle Obama is a very good dancer & athletic gymnast. Lindsey should pick her. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Update: Ah, Akhilleus has found a well-qualified candidate:

Here's Diane's entry (BTW, there seems to be a good deal of animal cruelty on the YouTubes):

Wait! Wait! MAG has an excellent suggestion, & likely more to Lindsey's "lifestyle choice":

Nick Gass: "Just one Iowan showed up at [Rick Santorum's] 2 p.m. campaign stop Monday at a restaurant in the unincorporated community of Hamlin, population 300, according to a report from The Des Moines Register -- Peggy Toft, an insurance agent who chairs the county's Republican Party.... Eventually, there were four Iowans gathered at Santorum's table.... Santorum told the Register that the low turnout was not surprising, but that it is all a part of the plan." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Samantha Marcus of NJ.com: "The [New Jersey] state Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Gov. Chris Christie can slash billions of dollars in contributions from New Jersey's troubled public employee pension system. The court's ruling caps an intense fight for pension funding and deals a major blow to the state's labor unions, who challenged Christie's spending cuts. Christie had sought to dismantle the pension law, which he argued was unconstitutional. Judges split 5-2 reversing the lower court's ruling that ordered Christie had broken his own landmark pension law and had to work with the Legislature to comply with it." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Annals of "Justice," Ctd. Guardian: "Nearly 24 hours after a judge ordered the release of a man who has spent more than four decades in solitary confinement, another court has ordered him to remain in prison at least until the end of this week. On Monday, a federal court ordered the immediate release of Albert Woodfox, the last of the 'Angola Three' inmates, who has been in solitary confinement in a 6 by 8 sq ft cell since 18 April 1972. Judge James Brady called Woodfox's release 'the only just remedy' after his two previous convictions for the death of a prison guard were overturned because of racial prejudice and lack of evidence. But Louisiana attorney general Buddy Caldwell on Tuesday appealed to the fifth US circuit court of appeals in New Orleans to keep Woodfox in prison with the intent to try him a third time." ...

... "The United States of Torture." Charles Pierce: "There are two stories out there that fill me with horror and disgust. They involve the fact that I live in a country that has made peace with its own inherent barbarism, one in Louisiana and one in New York.... Dear god, 40 years in solitary? By any measure, including those used by the United Nations, solitary confinement is a form of torture. It drives people mad." ...

... Los Angeles Times: "Los Angeles Police Officer Sharlton Wampler said he was in a life-and-death struggle with Ezell Ford, wrestling over the officer's gun on a summer evening last year. Fearing Ford would get control of the weapon, Wampler pulled out a backup gun from beneath his uniform and fired a fatal shot into his back. The account prompted Chief Charlie Beck to conclude Wampler was justified in opening fire. But on Tuesday, the L.A. Police Commission rejected Beck's finding, ruling that Wampler's use of deadly force violated LAPD policy.... The commission decided [Wampler] did not have a reason to stop and detain Ford in the first place. His handling of the encounter, the commission concluded, was so flawed that it led to the fatal confrontation.... It now falls to Beck, who alone is authorized to discipline officers, to decide what punishment, if any, to impose." CW: So according to the commission, that Walking While Black is not a death-penalty crime in L.A., after all. In theory, anyway. ...

... Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "Video footage of a group of police officers in California beating a man with batons is being investigated by the department after the city's police chief conceded that it appeared 'horrific and inflammatory'. Officers from the city of Salinas were filmed repeatedly striking Jose Velasco, who is said by his sister to have a mental illness, as he writhed around on a street on Friday. Velasco, 28, appears from the video clip to be hit on his head, legs, hands and back during the 45-second beating." ...

... Sarah Mervosh of the Dallas Morning News: "McKinney[, Texas,] Police Chief Greg Conley condemned as 'indefensible' the actions of Eric Casebolt, an officer who resigned Tuesday, after a video of Casebolt physically confronting teenagers at a pool party attracted national attention. Conley said at a news conference late Tuesday that Casebolt, 41, resigned 'on his own will' while under investigation. He will keep his pension and benefits.... The chief said the investigation will take some time to determine whether Casebolt should be criminally charged." ...

... CW: Remember this: some officers are brutes, some are racists & some are both. But mostly, they are not too intelligent.

Jessica Wohl of the Chicago Tribune: "McDonald's tapped two outsiders for key brand roles on Tuesday, the latest signal from the world's largest restaurant company that it wants to ignite change in the organization. Robert Gibbs, former press secretary for President Barack Obama, was named global chief communications officer. Silvia Lagnado, a past chief marketing officer for Bacardi Limited, was named global chief marketing officer, a position that was vacant for five years." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Power of Grover. Tierney Sneed of TPM: Deep in a budget crisis, some Louisiana GOP legislators have begged tax nazi Grover Norquist to loosen his "no-new-taxes" manifesto to allow them some wiggle room to write a budget Norquist Disciple Bobby Jindal would sign. Norquist, of course, declined. CW: Pathetic.

Way Beyond

Chicks Are Crybabies & Distractions to Great Men of Science. Jamie Grierson of the Guardian: "The Nobel laureate Tim Hunt has apologised for comments he made about female scientists. Hunt had told a conference he had a reputation for being a chauvinist, before saying: 'Let me tell you about my trouble with girls. Three things happen when they are in the lab. You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry.' The 72-year-old, who was awarded the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine in 2001, also said he was in favour of single-sex labs, while adding that he did not want to 'stand in the way of women'."

News Ledes

CNN: "American citizen Keith Broomfield was killed fighting in Syria, a State Department official confirmed Wednesday." He was reputedly fighting with Kurdish forces against ISIS.

Reuters: "Several thousand barrels of crude have spilled into a river in southwest Colombia after insurgents bombed a pipeline, state-run oil company Ecopetrol said on Wednesday, describing the damage as an 'environmental tragedy.'"

Washington Post: "Alleged serial offender Jesse L. Matthew Jr. on Wednesday was convicted in a brutal 2005 sexual assault in Fairfax City after a stunning development in which he reached a plea deal with prosecutors on the third day of his trial."

New York Times: "An examination of the cellphone used by the engineer on the Amtrak train that crashed just outside Philadelphia last month turned up no evidence that he was on the phone at the time of the accident, federal investigators said Wednesday."

AP: "Pope Francis has created a new Vatican tribunal section to hear cases of bishops accused of failing to protect children from sexually abusive priests, the biggest step the Holy See has taken yet to hold bishops accountable."

Guardian: "Pope Francis has been encouraged by a top American diplomat to take a tougher stance against Vladimir Putin when he meets the Russian president on Wednesday evening. The pope, a frequent critic of military action, has taken a cautious approach to criticism of Russia since its annexation of Crimea. Kenneth Hackett, the US ambassador to the Holy See, said the Vatican 'could say more about concerns on territorial integrity'."